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Friday, November 30, 1990 / University Daily Kansan
Opinion
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
World AIDS Day
Observation to increase international awareness of HIV disease and bring an end to its spread
More than 150 countries will join in observing the third annual World AIDS Day tomorrow. The effort was initiated by the World Health Organization to increase worldwide public awareness of the deadly virus.
The organization estimates that between 8 million and 10 million people have been infected with the HIV virus. Of those infected, approximately three million are women. Projections dictate that 200,000 of 500,000 new cases in the next year will be women. For this reason, this year's theme will be "Women and AIDS."
The organization designated tomorrow, Dec. 1, as World AIDS Day. But because it is a Saturday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has designated Monday to be National HIV and AIDS Awareness Day. Across the nation, awareness groups will be working to provide the public with current information about the HIV virus.
Locally, the Douglas County AIDS Project and the health education department at Watkins Memorial Health Center are working to disseminate information into classrooms and to campus organizations.
Watkins staff will sponsor a workshop to educate various student organization members about the virus in hopes the message will reach these groups. In addition to the Watkins program, the English Alternative Theatre has begun presenting two plays about people living with AIDS.
As the disease continues to claim an increasing number of victims and with no cure on the immediate horizon, the public must remain continually informed if we are to end the dramatic losses of this killer. Devoting a worldwide observance day solely to this purpose is an excellent step in the right direction.
Buck Taylor for the editorial board
Recyclable trees
Live, potted Christmas trees make more sense
Just in time for the holiday season, there's a festive way to avoid waste and to be environmentally conscious: buying live, potted Christmas trees instead of cut trees.
There are several advantages to purchasing the potted trees. Most importantly, the potted tree can be replanted once the holidays are over instead of being thrown out with old Christmas cup and Christmas dinner leftovers.
A potted tree also doesn't dry out at the holiday season progresses, therefore making it less of a fire hazard. A tree that doesn't losing its needles also is eliminated.
Once the holiday season is over and the tree has been replanted, it has a good survival rate, said Anne Peuser, owner of The Garden Store in rural Lawrence, which sells potted Christmas trees.
MICHΔUD©1990
The Garden Store sells one live Christmas tree for every two cut trees. Penser said. She said she had been asked to ask asking questions about obtaining live Christmas trees.
Live trees do cost somewhat more than cut trees — a 3-foot live Christmas tree starts at $30 and a 5-foot cut tree starts at $23 at The Garden Store. And the potted trees tend to be shorter, ranging from 3 to 5 feet in height. However, when the potted soil that comes with the live tree is included, they appear as tall as most cut trees.
In this era of recycling mania, here is a type of recycling in which the productive results can be seen when replanting a Christmas tree. Save a tree — buy live this Christmas. It may take a bit more effort, but the result is a live, growing tree after the holidays instead of a pile by the trash dumpster.
Jill Harrington for the editorial board
Bathroom wisdom this isn't
as far back as my memory is accurate, I can remember a certain fascination for the "forbidden fruit" of bathroom prose and poetry. When I was little, I used to excuse myself from some things, but I explore the hidden wisdom scrawled on the omnipresent slate of a bathroom wall.
Along the way, I learned who to call for a good time (among other "good" things), some useful poetry ("Here I sit all brokenhearted," and how to correctly spell the "F.") and how to correctly speak the "K." it, it was the F word that I searched for the most. It gave me something to talk about at recess on Monday.
I was more than overwhelmed by the literary depth of the stall I recently chose in Wescoe. I looked all
Being young and naive, most of the time I never found any hidden meanings. I think, looking back, it was the fact that the authors always remained anonymous that intrigued me.
I've never had any problems spelling the F-word. In fact, I had my mouth washed out for correctly spelling it aloud during Methodist day camp.
Yet, when the chance arose, I couldn't wait to interpret bathroom wisdom at KU. I suppose it was being surrounded by all this intelligence that made me believe there would be a lot more poetic significance in the writings on the bathroom walls of a college campus.
Somewhere along the line I lost this interest. Most would say I grew up, but I'm not ready to accept that quite yet. I guess as we grow older and, in some cases, more mature, we begin to form our own ideas and don't need to reflect on the hidden bathroom wisdom of our minds.
around me at the numerous eternal wisdomats that surrounded me. To my left was a beautifully-drawn caricature of the Chancellor. To my right was a thought-out essay on flag burning. (Somebody had to miss class for that one.) Underneath was an opposing view on the subject.
These scrawlings were a lot more advanced than the poetry of McDonald's or the critically drawn porn of White Castles". I had to laugh to myself about how serious we college take things, even in the bathroom.
But this F-word was more of a noun than a verb. Written in huge uppercase letters on the door were the brutal phrases: "Fags have not rights. Down with GLSOK."
Then I saw the F-word.
I couldn't believe it. And I stopped laughing, because this was serious. I had been on campus for almost a semester thinking the whole time how nice it was to be surrounded by open-minded individuals. Yes, I read the papers and I heard about all the controversies. The thing is, I never saw any of the incidents that were reported. I never saw posters being torn up in the street. I saw people crowded on anything. I just figured that the press had blown all of the homophobic instances out of proportion.
This was different. The words stared back at me, and I thought about how well they fit their surroundings. The words belonged in a bathroom. They deserved to be flushed. The anonymous author no longer intrigued me, he frightened me. For all I knew, somebody I knew and liked might have written it.
So, while the left side of my brain rationalized about freedom of speech, the right side kept thinking about the seriousness and the seriousness of their content.
Here we are a' an institute of higher knowledge, and someone with ideas that would admit him to Neardarthalis Anonymous blesses us with his infinite freedom. Free speech isn't to be argued here, but other rights have been challenged. Wherever Mr. Anonymous is, I'd like to be the first to inform him that his ideas are very un-American. Stating that homosexuals have no rights is clear evidence.
Mr. Anonymous' words seem to fit into a wider scale. People who want to take homosexuals off our campuses, Blacks off our blocks, women out of our work environments or even records off our shelves, all seem to be coming from the same ideological place. I admit I haven't seen many of these incidents, but I also haven't seen homosexuals demonstrating to get heterosexuals off our campus. I've never heard any brutal comments about heterosexuality screamed at me on my way to class.
Christmas break is in our beloved grasp as we close Fall Semester 1990. But when we come back, it certainly wouldn't hurt if we all put a lot of thought into what "rights" are, and where our opinions, however valid or invalid they are, fit into the scheme of things.
Michael Kinnaman is an Overland Park sophomore in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
LETTERS to the EDITOR
Peck's ideas frightening
After years of trying to convince University officials to allow the sale of condoms in residence hall vending machines, the students has finally been heard.
With the specter of sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and AIDS, condom availability in the residence halls is long overdue. I was somewhat surprised to read Pam Peek's condensation of the horrific stories regarding the disappearance of "generational nurturing" are not only illogical but遭短trightening.
Peck's first statement that there are certain static rules of human behavior that are passed down through the generations is not as simple as it may seem. If she was correct in her assumption that these rules have remained the same throughout history, I probably would have nine wives and be worshipping them. But in the 3,000 years ago behavior 3,000 years ago. Obviously the rules of human behavior are subject to change and are not static.
Furthermore, relying on other adults to help instill the beliefs of parents into the children won't work in our society, nor should it. Having everyone help rear the children might be dandy in a homogenous society where everyone believes the same thing and variance from social norms is not tolerated. Fortunately, this is America, and diversity of thought and action is, at least in theory, cherished.
In an attempt to criticize the avail.
There is "another group, often youngsters themselves, producing offspring without the financial or emotional stability to care for them." Hold on a second! Wasn't Peck just condemning the sale of condoms in the past? No, it's not. Well, which is going to prevent more unwanted pregnancies — condom availability on our campus or Peck's notion of "generational nurturing?"
ability of condoms in the residence hall, Peek talks about two groups of parents. The first group are those who "spend an inordinate amount of time and money seeking in vain for substitute parents so they can pursue their own selfish interests." In fact, there are an enormous number of parents who are forced for economic reasons to spend all day with their children. Putting food on the table and a roof over the family's head is not a pursuit of "selfish interests" in the part of the parents!
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Who, might I ask, would be the person to decide what is morally correct and what is not?
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"Many parents are poor examples of virtue." . "Why is this, Peek?" Because the parents don't teach their children the same things you would? Heaven forbid that any child should be taught belief that you don't agree with! Perhaps we should take away the children of parents who are such poor examples of "virtue". Oh, I guess we can't do that because "there is no substitute for mother love."
How about those "irresponsible writers of movies, TV shows and musical lyrics?" Boy, if we didn't have that Goss Darn First Amendment we wouldn't have any problems with the children picking up ideas with which Peck disagrees. Perhaps if we just replaced the First Amendment with some kind of omniscient judge of morality, this person could protect the children from impure thoughts and even enforce the "rules designed to uphold conventional standards" on our campus, Who might I ask, would be the person to decide what is morally correct and what is not? Chancellor Budig? Neil Bush? My history professor? Me? Better yet, we could let Peck decide. She seems to believe that she has some special insight into what is morally right and what is wrong.
Peck stated that "we are now reduced to teaching how to survive immorality." Perhaps the sacrifice of a few thousand people to AIDS would teach us all some of Peck's morality. Perhaps the elimination of sexual awareness could help usher in a return to the good old days of
sexism, fear and ignorance.
By far the most outrageous statement Peck made was when she said "educational institutions should reinforce traditional values." The purpose of the University is not, has not, and I hope never will be to reinforce "traditional values." The purpose of the University is to provide an academic environment wherein thoughts and ideas can be freely exchanged and young women and men learn to think for themselves. If that means making condoms available, so be it.
The fact remains that "society" is nothing more than a large number of individuals. Because these individuals have diverse ideas and beliefs, it is ridiculous to suggest that there is a standard set of rules for children, or that such a standard should exist, or that "society" should enforce that standard.
Rodger Woods
Hutchinson sophomore
KANSAN STAFF
DEREK SCHMIDT
Editor
KJERSTIN GABRIELSON Managing editor
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
Editors
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Retail sales manager
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Sales and marketing adviser
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